Nova Scotia's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) has identified the man killed by police in the Dartmouth community of Westphal Saturday morning as 24-year-old Bradley Thomas Clattenburg of Truro.
The RCMP say Clattenburg was killed during an altercation with police after he threatened another man with a weapon.
Westphal resident Adam Smith was making breakfast Saturday morning when he first spotted the flashing lights of a police car outside his home on Broome Road.
"Then I noticed through the trees that he had an armoured vest on and a rifle out. Not a good thing to see,” says Smith. “Here he was in my front yard; I didn't know what was going on. My front door was open, my back door was open, my son was outside somewhere, and I just kind of went into panic mode for a second.”
Smith quickly ran outside to grab his son, locked the doors and watched out a window as the scene unfolded down the street.
"Another police officer drove by, I’m guessing it was the one who went by that spotted the suspect and took the shots, because a moment later this officer sped down the road,” says Smith. “Quickly after that, I heard two gun shots, very close together, sounded like the same gun, like one person took two shots."
The RCMP say the suspect threatened to shoot another man before fleeing into the nearby woods. Officers tracked the suspect, but he confronted them, and shots were fired.
SIRT confirms Bradley Thomas Clattenburg was pronounced dead at the scene. Director Felix Cacchione tells CTV News Clattenburg was allegedly carrying a sawed off shotgun at the time, but it's yet to be determined if he actually fired the gun.
Clattenburg's next of kin has been notified and an autopsy was completed Sunday afternoon.
SIRT continues to investigate the incident, and Cacchione says they are contacting potential witnesses and nearby businesses that may have security footage.
Broom Road, where the incident happened, was reopened to traffic just before 6:00 p.m. Sunday.
SIRT is also currently investigating another incident on Prince Edward Island. Cacchione has confirmed that SIRT received a call Sunday of a shooting involving police in Summerside.
While SIRT is the police watchdog for Nova Scotia, they can also be called to investigate any serious incidents involving police in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick or Newfoundland and Labrador.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Allan April.